AGRICULTURAL BULLETIN 



OF I HE 



STRAITS 



AND 



F E D E R A T E D M ALAV STATES. 



No. i.] JANUARY, 1904. [Vol, III Part I. 



PINE APPLES. 



The Pine apple (Ananassa saliva) of the order Brotncliac€:c is a 

 native of South America, probably Southern Mexico, and was in- 

 troduced very early into the East Indies by the Portuguese, shortlv 

 after the discovery of America, as according to LlNSCHOTEX, it 

 was abundant in India in and in 1593 sold for as little as 



2 reals a piece (Acosta Hist. Arom. 1295). It seems indeed to have 

 spread over the world more rapidly than any other cultivated plant, 

 and probably arrived in Malacca about the same time as it did in 

 India. The name Nanas, or Ananas by which it is known in 

 almost all languages is of Soulh American origin. The Spaniards 

 called it Pinas from its resemblance to a pine cone, and similarly 

 we get the English name. 



Varieties ok Pine-apples. 



The number of named varieties of pines is very large. Each 

 country giving- special names to its varieties. Unfortunately most 

 of these varieties have hardly been adequately described, still less 

 figured or classified. Mr. L). MlJNRO, in the Transactions of the 

 Horticultural Society of London 1835, gives a list of fifty-two 

 kinds, which could probably be largelv supplemented now. The 

 plant varies in the colouring and presence or absence of spines on 

 the leaves, the colour of the outside of the fruit, and the flesh and 

 in size. The earliest cultivated appear to have been very small, 

 about the size of an orange, and seem to correspond to what is 

 now known as the Mauritius pine. 



Among the best known named kinds from various parts of the 

 world are — 



The Smooth Cayenne or Giant Kew, apparently identical with 

 what is known in some places as the King pine. It has bright 

 green long and broad leaves without thorns on the edge or but few 

 and bright yellowish green cvlindric fruit. The bracts often tinged 

 with red. This pire is the one commonly sold in London, being 

 imported from the Azores, and it or a closelv allied form is culti- 

 vated in the fields in the Straits for tinning. Its weight when full 

 sized is S.\ lbs. 



